Week 2: January 16th - January 22nd

Individual Log - Zach

Following our weekly meeting with Dr. Ejaz, and some discussion with the group. Our goals this week were to refine and continue developing the ideas that weren’t rejected and propose a potential new project idea. Other recommendations provided by Dr. Ejaz, were to continue making edits to the website and prepare next week's deliverables.

Research this week was divided between the project idea #1 (Tuner) and project idea #7 (UGV). Project idea #7 is a new idea being proposed since project idea #3 (Rain||Shine) would be too simple for a group project and there are similar designs implemented in previous semesters.

Research for project idea #1 consisted of looking into a myriad of different ways to bring some more complexity to the project as a whole. At one point leaning into implementing a laser vibrometer, however, this was an impractical approach due to the current size requirements for accurate laser vibrometers. Instead, I decided to dive deeper into the physics and mathematics behind music notes, the Equal Temperament scale, and how semi-tones (half steps between notes, e.g., C -> C#), cents, and octaves can be translated into more mathematical terms [3][4]. What was discovered is that musical notes, each with their respective frequency, can be divided up on a logarithmic scale, where one octave (e.g. A3 -> A4) has a ratio of 2:1 (e.g. 220 Hz -> 440 Hz). Similarly, cents can be used to define increments between semi-tones, such that one semi-tone will always have 100 cents, and one octave will always have 1200 cents. Cents are based on a logarithmic formula  m = k * log2(Fm/FR), where "m" is the value in cents (either in tenths or thousandths depending on constant k), "k" is a constant either as 12 semi-tones per octave or 1200 cents per octave, "Fm" is the measured frequency at the input, and "FR" is the reference frequency (typically 440 Hz).

Furthermore, more research was put into the components that were a part of the initial design to expand on the functionality of the tuner. Multiple MEMs microphone varieties are available, each with specific features for processing audio signals, these are analog, digital PDM, and digital I2S. Additionally, a deeper look into current technology in instrument tuners revealed how audio and/or electrical signals are processed to provide users with accurate measurements and feedback. This allowed me to create notes for weekly meeting #3 so that the functionality and complexity of this project could be explained more thoroughly to Dr. Ejaz. Some tentative limitations were added.

For the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV), the inspiration was in part due to the ongoing concerns over fire safety and prevention and a cousin of mine recently becoming a volunteer firefighter. The goal is to research and design a remote vehicle capable of dispensing high pressure water or fire retardant using many of the same technologies present in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) industry [14]. The end goal for this vehicle would be implementing autonomy, but this may be beyond the scope for senior design.